Using a Wet Palette

[Darkoath]

I have been hearing more and more about using a wet palette while painting miniatures.

Are there any LAF'ers here that use a wet palette?  I would love to learn more about
using a wet palette and perhaps get a recommendation about where to get one that
works well.

I hear this is really the way to go when painting uniformed units.  I can see how this
could speed up the painting process for example if I were painting say a 10 man WW1
late war German infantry squad.

I hope this thread gets people talking!

Darkoath

[Brandlin]

my (very) limited understanding is that a wet palette holds paint without letting ti dry out so you can paint multiple miniatures at a time or even stop work for the day and come back later and continue using the same paint as it wont have dried up.

However that only seems to be an issue if you are mixing your own paint colours. If you are using paint as the manufacturers coloured it then a wet palette will make  no difference.

If I'm wrong then I'm happy to be shot down in flames.

[blackstone]

I tried a homemade wet palette for the first time a few weeks back. I used a tobacco tin with some wet kitchen roll in it and some standard white copier paper on top of the tissue. Worked fine. The paints stayed wet for days once the lid was put back on the tin. I reckon it's worth trying a home made wet palette.

[Muskie]

I got talked into buying a P3 wet palette.  The proprietor of the local gaming store had switched to it.  It is basically a plastic box with a piece of foam in it.  You also get 100+ sheets of paper.  The key is getting the foam and paper just the right amount of wet.  Some paints take better to the wet palette then others.  I've kept my metallics right out of it for instance.

It indeed helps blending which I've never been big into, what it also does is allows you to put out say your Foundry triad and see it before you use it on a fig and if you forget part of one model you can quickly touch up right from the wet palette then after a wash you can blend back in the highlight or mid tone.

I think it can help with some effects especially advanced blending techniques, however most people are minimalists they are looking to streamline and speed up their painting.  Army Painter or Dip or even heavy use of GWs new washes will speed up your work a lot more than a wet palette.  That said some of the best painters in the world swear by them.  One thing it forces you to do is thin your paints at least a bit because some amount of water gets into the paint, more if you spread it out, so you can work the consistency of old paint back into something more useful for instance.  That said I've started to through out old paint pots rather than trying to resurrect them, my paint time is short and I have plenty of pots of paint, if a key color like an old old Blood Red dries out I just buy some new paints in this case Reaper Master Series Clotted Red seems to be closest to what I want.

You can see me using it on the figs featured in these blog posts:
Finishing up Old Models
Still Painting Test Models
More Painting Progress

[Hammers]

I've been tempted to get one/make one several times. I have always been a sucker for new tools which will Revolutionize the Hobby but this time  couldn't be bothered for two main reasons:

1) it seem to be a tool for those who either live in a very dry climate or are very tight with their paints
2) it would be yet another tool to maintain and get in place before you start

[Blackwolf]

What next? Sometimes I think this will all lead to ruination,next it will be plastics............oh.

[Orctrader]

I always use a wet palette.

Mine is the plastic lid of a margarine/spread container.  I fold up a sheet of paper towel and put in the lid.  Then I add some water to the paper towel – not too much.  Then I place some grease-proof paper on top – shiny-side up.  (I don’t use a sponge.)

I discard after each session.

Q:  Why do I use one?

A:  Paint remains workable for the duration of my painting session and won’t dry out.  I can mix colours and take my time about it.  “Dry” palettes, for me, the paint always dries too soon and – worse – at an uneven rate. 

Incidentally, I wouldn’t dream of buying any of the commercially available palettes not because of the price but, for me, they are just too large.  My home-made small palette is just perfect for my uses.

[aircav]

I made one out of a sealable sandwich box, & its great when i remember to use it especially when mixing colours as you go if you only have an hour or so to paint, as the paint stays useable for 4 or 5 days 

[former user]

OK, now, I do not belong to the people who paint a lot of miniatures
I have never tried wet palette on miniatures.
I have however used oil paints by the same principle, and yes, You can do fantastic blending with it - if you want to spend hours and days on one miniature.

What I have tested recently is acrylic translucent medium (LUKAS) that allows You to transform any acrylic paint into a glaze, with the exactly desired transparency you want - it speeds up blending a lot and it prolongs the drying of the paint as well
so basically it improves the control of the painting process...

I simply do not understand why minature painters have to reinvent something that artists are already doing for decades. Acrylics are made especially to quick dry, and wet technique is something for oil or tempera, where the long drying is needed.
I am not writing this to kick anyone in the groin, I simply don't understand it.

[Brandlin]

I simply do not understand why minature painters have to reinvent something that artists are already doing for decades. Acrylics are made especially to quick dry, and wet technique is something for oil or tempera, where the long drying is needed.

I think its basically that the two communities do not cross over much. there isn't a flow of information from one to the other. So no learning takes place.

Besides GW has made a fortune out of repackaging stuff you can get for 20% of the price in an arts shop and claiming they invented it! So its been in their interests not to promote stuff like oils...

shrugs... happens the world over.

[Bako]

I use a foam I acquired in bulk years ago and some water to keep it damp and apply the paints I want to use. It doesn't let me "take the day off" so to speak, but I certainly can wander off if I'm needed to do something else and get back to the palette without worry. My metallic paints don't take well to this method unless I've blended them with with other acrylics though.

[Blackwolf]

What next? Sometimes I think this will all lead to ruination,next it will be plastics............oh.

 To be honest I use a wet palette most of the time,the above was the rantings of a grumpy wolf.However my wet palette is the blending on the miniature in much the same way as one would use oil paint,tho' much faster.Usually I use ink as the medium or make a glaze of the base colour,very much as former user describes. I have nicked some ideas from Calvin Tan, I also nick ideas from erm 'proper artists'.Illusion plays a big part,the eyes naturally play tricks,we often see what is not there because we assume it is there.Now I'm raving..........

[Michi]

I would love to learn more about
using a wet palette and perhaps get a recommendation about where to get one that
works well.
Darkoath

I don´t use one, but my pal does. He did well introduce it to me, though I decided not to use it for no specific reason. You must not buy one, but make one yourself, what is rather easy:

Take a small and flat plastic box with a tight cover (Tupperware for example), lay paper towels in there and soak them with water (just as much liquid as they are able to hold), then put a paper bag over them (the white ones to wrap sandwiches, these are durable and allow osmosis without being damaged by water).
The paper bag is actually your palette now. You can use it like a usual one without the paint running dry. It even stays wet if you properly close the cover after use. The main goal is to save paint and work slowlier with acrylics (allows better blending).

I admit that I am far too lazy to use such "technical" aids to do my painting. For me it´s an old credit card as (dry) palette, a shot glass for water and a size 1 brush for all purposes...

[Blackwolf]

It's interesting Michi I tend to use only one brush these days,a size 2 sable.Although I use two water jars (non metalics,metalics)which always have for or five sizes,just in case

[Darkoath]

Well again I think one of the advantages of using a wet palette would be when painting a set of uniformed miniatures.  You can keep painting without having to re-open you color pots multiple times to get more paint
out. 

I think I will try the suggestions here and make my own wet palate from tupperware...

Darkoath